


Drowning

by PurelyRed



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Movie 2: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 19:24:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16750153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurelyRed/pseuds/PurelyRed
Summary: With Credence gone, Nagini finds herself floundering in a new world that she doesn't know.





	Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> Drowning  
> This is my first Credence x Nagini fic, because those two deserve better and are so adorable and sweet in the movies, even despite their own brokenness. Their connection is something so pure and so unbelievable, I found myself falling in love with this ship more and more. And of course, Claudia and Ezra’s close friendship and absolute dorkiness didn’t help xD. 
> 
> #SadsadsadBoy #CredencesOnlyFriend

It’s for the umpteenth time in her worthless, pathetic life that Nagini doesn’t know what to do.

What is she doing here, gathered around with wizards and witches that she doesn’t truly know, with no Credence surrounding her like a blanket of sheltering darkness to help ease the crippling anxiety she feels?

In all their brokenness, he anchors her.

Roots her to the cruel reality that she doesn’t want to live in, but has to, and yet still manages to give her hope and light when all other things were dim and empty.

Funny, how broken things could only be pieced together by other broken objects, and never by a wholesome one.

She flounders, drowning silently in her anxiousness and sorrow, arms locked around her sides like a wooden doll as tears prickle her eyes, her back plastered against the wall as though it served as some sort of protection. Credence is her lifebuoy, her source of constancy in this strange world that they stepped into–only that now, he’s _gone._ And she’s left all alone, gasping, drowning in everything that she has no idea how to deal with.

The wall is smoldering and black, burnt from the blue fires of the demon Grindelwald had summoned. But somehow, it reminds her of him in his obscurial form–and her heart clenches in her chest in the strangest of ways.

The strange environment and people are new waters, and it frees her just as it suffocates her, each of the new experiences, senses knitting her together wholly and at the same time, tearing her apart.

An involuntary hiss escapes from between her lips as a sob catches in her throat, the thought of Credence too fresh a wound to not let her lose her precise control over her own emotions.

The snake coiling and waiting to emerge beneath her flesh isn’t happy at the display of weakness that she’s showing.

They were supposed to be _fierce. Violent_.

_Killers_. It hisses, almost viciously at the back of her mind. _Never weak._

_Take him, Make him regret leaving, and kill him._

_That’s what we should do._

The displeasure of the snake that is her curse burns her, even right down to her core, its dark, dangerous and violent thoughts, bestial and instinctual, slithering into the deepest part of her mind. Nagini’s breath catches in her throat, a strangled mewl bubbling from her throat as she forced the thoughts down alongside the bile rising in her throat.

Her eyes squeeze shut, sweat beading the lines of her forehead, seeping into the crevices of her eyes.

_I’m not an animal._

_Not an animal._

_Not._

_An animal_.

It’s a fervent chant that she murmurs to herself as she rocks on her feet, arms curling to hug around her body, her nose buried in the muddied folds of her now dirtied dress.

_Yes._ The smug thoughts of her other half sent her head snapping back in a moment of shock. _But you’re still all alone. With none but I_ desiring _you._

The striking reply of the being slithering beneath her skin and bones is the exact thing she needed for her to lose and slip her grasp on her own emotional control, her fear, once well held under control, slipping through its gates to wash over her like a raging wave.

A garbled scream, caught between a cry for help wrenches itself from her lips as her bones crack and reform, crunching into themselves to form a lengthened vertebrae of a slithering form of a snake, her flesh tearing apart and fusing together from where her feet begin.

Maledictus transformations were always incredibly painful. Not that anyone knew. After all, her bones needed to shift, crack and reform into something entirely new. But Nagini’s long gotten used to knowing how to stay silent in these transformations, both for the performance and her own benefit. People tended to find more pleasure seeing her in pain as she transformed–and that was something she had control in not giving them satisfaction over.

She’s always prided herself in knowing how to control her pain in her transformations–but somehow, this time, it’s different. The searing pain races through her body, ripping and tearing, devouring and slicing her apart as her mouth opens in a shrill, broken scream, her back folding in on itself as it arches, her body the first to break apart and change, twisting together viciously in a horrifying image of a depraved artpiece–and the last thing she sees is that group of people that she knows not of, all concerned eyes and horrified looks, caring hands, and tender words, descending upon her like a band of swooping angels.

…

They’re in the middle of a conversation when a shrill, pain filled cry pierces the air, followed by a sickening crack of a bone. It sends the hairs on Newt’s arms standing on end as they round the corner to where they had left the girl that had been with Credence, but nothing quite prepares them for a sight of the beautiful girl, twisting around in agony, as her bones cracked and reformed in repetitive succession, her flesh and bones twisting as they tore apart and stitched together to form another body.

He hears the horrified gasp of Tina behind him, and the sound of Jacob emptying his stomach onto the ground.

“Jesus.” The other man that had followed them had pity mixed into his voice, half coated with some form of disgust just as Tina descended next to him, gathering Nagini into her arms. “What’s happening to her?”

The girl gasps in response to his question, her facial muscles contorting as though to speak before a low coy hiss bubbled from between her lips.

“She’s a…Maledictus.” Newt had seen the posters left behind by the circus, and his head bowed slightly, his body pressing lightly towards one side as he rocked and shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve read about them, but I’ve never seen one, so I’m not familiar with their transformations.” His voice was low but soothing, with just a tinge of panic and concern as he reached over like a kindred friend to pry her writhing bottom half from Tina’s legs, his back hunched over as though feeling her agony as his own.

“It’s okay.” Her body shudders as his fingers trail down her arm, his fingers snapping back instinctively as she visibly flinched. “It’s fine.” What’s left of her morphing hands clings to his own extended ones, and for the first time since the end of the battle, Newt is struck right in the gut by the terror that is bubbling in this fragile woman’s eyes, and suddenly, he loses all his sense of comforting words. How did one comfort and assure someone who truly lived in fear of themselves?

“There’s no need to be scared.” Tina’s always there to supplement him when his words fail to make an appearance, his own hands shaking as they tightly grasp the girl’s own, his soul twisting in agony at her fear and visible pain as she struggles– _no, refuses_ to give into the final part of the transformation.

It’s hurting her. He sees it, and so does everyone else around them.

“Please.” Tina’s usually calm voice cracks just a little at the other woman’s pain. She’s always been the more connected one out of the two of them, more attuned to human emotions than he ever was. “Just give in. You’ll be alright.”

Newt barely deciphers the imperceptible shake of Nagini’s head, her lips opening and closing in gasps that sound garbled and incongruent spilling from her lips.

Her beautiful brown eyes dart around harshly, almost pleadingly as she clings to his flesh, searching–for someone that they both knew was no longer there. “He’s gone.” Newt hates the fact that he has to be brutally honest with her. Its always been his best quality, and yet also his worst.“Credence isn’t here. He left.” A taste of bitterness and failure spread across his tongue.

Tears, hot, fast and gleaming in the dim light sparkled as they fell like beaded jewels from the corners of her eyes.

“You loved him.” The emotion of heartbreak in her eyes is something all too familiar with him, and he shifts, rocking back slightly on his feet as Tina freezes beside him. “I know.” His hands smooth over hers soothingly. He’s had his own fair share of crushes and heartbreaks to understand just a fraction of what she’s currently going through. She relaxes, just for a fraction of a tender second.

“We’ll get him back. I promise.” Maybe it’s the resolution in his eyes, or the brittle firmness in his voice that reassures her, because she lets a sigh leave her lips, her body sinking like malleable putty to the floor, the last of her transformation convulsions leaving her body as it seeped over her, changing her skin and bones, leaving a huge snake, visibly tired and drained, coiled around his and Tina’s body and arms.

Her forked tongue flickers and she raises her head to butt his own for a moment. Newt bumps his head back understandingly, a soft smile gracing his face.

~~~~

**Author's Note:**

> ~~~~
> 
> I’m thinking if I should make these one-shots or continue it as a storyline. 
> 
> I actually wrote a little of Credence’s part already, but I think I’ll leave it as a second part to another shot, since this one is clearly, long enough xD
> 
> Please let me know what ya’ll think! Its my first time writing for Nadence :p 
> 
>  
> 
> Credence and Nagini deserve so much better and would have been so much better together.
> 
> I‘ve posted this before on my tumblr https://selinaneveahcrystal.tumblr.com/, so for those who've read it there, it may seem familiar to you :p I'll be posting more of the fics I've written for them both on tumblr and on ao3. But of course, Tumblr will get it first.


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